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Hindu Notes from General Studies-01

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What drives tiger dispersal

News

  • Tigers in India traverse long distances to find mates and new territories. But the movement depends on roughness of the terrain and human disturbance in the area.
  • The terrain affects tiger dispersal differently in the Western Ghats and central India, two strongholds of wild tiger populations in the country, finds a new study.

Findings

  • The central Indian landscape is highly fragmented with high densities of people, while the Western Ghats has lesser human disturbance and is home to the world’s largest contiguous tiger population.
  • A study in 2017 by a team,revealed that roughness of terrain and human footprint drove tiger gene flow in central India: tigers moved across ridges and rough topography to avoid the presence of people.
  • Another team studied this across 30,000 sq km in the Western Ghats in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. They collected tiger faeces in forests including Bhadra Tiger Reserve and Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, and used forensic samples that came to CSIR-CCMB between 2011 and 2015 to obtain genetic data of 115 individual tigers.
  • They complemented this with overlays of land cover and land use categories, using maps showing terrain, road networks, developed areas (reflecting human disturbance) and historical maps (from the 1960s, to see how vegetation cover changed over the decades).
  • Though the team did not find strong correlations between current genetic structure and historical landscape in the Ghats, comparing the data with the team’s earlier study in central India (after standardising the methods for comparisons) revealed an interesting pattern the relationship between terrain and gene flow is “inverted” in both regions.
  • While gene flow correlated with rough terrain in central India, it was linked with smooth forest terrain containing minimal human disturbance in the Ghats, finds the team’s study.
  • This pattern is mainly due to differing levels of human disturbance.
  • While Central India has more fragmented forests and higher human disturbance, the Ghats have relatively larger, connected forest patches and lesser human disturbance, facilitating tiger movement across lower and smoother areas.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-02

Election Commission bans 3 AIADMK poll advertisements

News

  • The Election Commission of India (ECI) banned the telecast of three Lok Sabha campaign advertisements of the AIADMK targeting the DMK on the grounds that they violated the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

Beyond News

  • The advertisements made certain references to the DMK on corruption which the ECI indicated was based on “unverified allegations” or on “distortions” and on land grabbing cases and killing of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka a decade ago.
  • As some political parties were telecasting political advertisements without the approval of the State-level Media Certification and Monitoring Committee, the ECI also warned of strong action in case of violations.

World Bank to study irrigation service delivery in State

News

  • The State’s efforts in boosting the irrigation sector through huge investments received international acclaim what with the World Bank inviting Telangana to be a key featured State in its study on improving irrigation services delivery in the country.

Beyond News

  • The initiative, the World Bank said, seeks to review the existing institutional arrangements for service delivery across different States in India and explore the variation across and within states to identify the constraints to improving service delivery in irrigation systems.
  • The study adopts two-phased approach, lead water resources management specialist of the World Bank Ijsbrand H de Jong said in a March 12 letter addressed to Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi.
  • The first phase of the two-phased study is aimed at econometric and geo-spatial analysis for estimating the value addition of of the canal system. It would compare similar villages on either sides of catchment area boundaries for improving the existing knowledge on the degree of variance between the head and tail reaches in large canal systems.
  • Case studies to better understand the techno-commercial aspects, salient features, institutional arrangements, benefits accruing and expected both in terms of livelihood enhancement and resource optimisation of select capital projects would form part of the second phase.
  • This is aimed at drawing overall lessons for identification of opportunities for scaling this to better meet the stated goals of the State.
  • The Bank recalled the State’s participation in the stakeholder consultation on “improving irrigation service delivery in India” last year and said it was immensely valuable.
  • Acknowledging the “strides the State of Telangana made towards improving service delivery”, the Bank said it intended to feature this as an innovative case within India adding the Union Ministry of Water Resources too had advised it to include Telangana in the study.

State TB cell mulls MoU with India Post to transport samples

News

  • The Telangana State TB Cell officials are mulling signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the postal department to transport sputum samples from Primary Health Centres to Cartridge Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing (CBNAAT) laboratories in district headquarters.
  • The move aims to reduce the time taken to test samples for Multi-Drug Resistant TB (MDR TB). If MDR TB goes undetected, the patient might spread the disease to others.

Beyond News

  • Health department officials said that early detection of MDR TB helps in early treatment, which also helps in checking its spread. When the bacteria that causes TB becomes resistant to drugs such as Isoniazid and Rifampicin, it is called MDR TB.
  • There are 750 Designated Microscopy Centres (DMCs) in PHCs in Telangana, where sputum samples are tested for the disease. If a sample tests positive for TB, the patient is provided drugs and the samples are again sent to CBNAAT laboratories at the district headquarters, where tests are conducted to know if it is a MDR TB case.
  • Currently, lab technicians at DMCs send the sputum samples to CBNAAT labs through courier. If a DMC is located in a remote area, the technician has to reach the mandal headquarters or some other far-away place where courier service is available.
  • This system was being implemented on a pilot project basis in Nalgonda and Nizamabad for the past two months. Officials said that they intended to follow it in the entire State.
  • Meanwhile, to avoid MDR TB, medicines need to be taken without any gap for six to nine months. Within one or two months of taking the medicines, the effect of bacteria (Mycobacterium Tuberculosis) reduces.

Hindu Notes from General Studies-03

Exploring nearest exoplanets

News

  • Life may be evolving on rocky, Earth-like planets orbiting in the habitable zone of some of our closest stars which are bombarded by high levels of radiation, according to a study.

Beyond News

  • Proxima-b, only 4.24 light years away, receives 250 times more X-ray radiation than Earth and could experience deadly levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on its surface, said researchers from Cornell University in the US.
  • According to the study, life already has survived this kind of fierce radiation on the Earth.
  • All of life on Earth today evolved from creatures that thrived during an even greater UV radiation assault than Proxima-b, and other nearby exoplanets, currently endure.
  • The same thing could be happening at this very moment on some of the nearest exoplanets, researchers said.
  • They modelled the surface UV environments of the four exoplanets closest to Earth that are potentially habitable: Proxima-b, TRAPPIST-1e, Ross-128b and LHS-1140b.
  • These planets orbit small red dwarf stars which, unlike our Sun, flare frequently, bathing their planets in high-energy UV radiation. While conditions prevail upon the surface of the planets orbiting these flaring stars, it is known that such flares are biologically damaging and can cause erosion in planetary atmospheres.

Lunar meteorites reveal origin of Moon

News

  • Analysing lunar meteorites has provided new evidence that the Moon was formed after a Mars-sized body impacted the Earth 5 billion years ago, finds a study.

Findings

  • Scientists conducted research on three lunar meteorites from the US space agency NASA and found chlorine isotopic fractionation, which only occurs in ultra-high-temperature and ultra-high-energy conditions, such as a giant collision between astronomical bodies, the Xinhua reported on Wednesday.
  • Chlorine isotopic fractionation was a process in which chlorine-35, an isotope of chlorine, easily evaporates under high temperatures while the heavier chlorine-37 can better stand the heat.
  • The discovery of the phenomenon in lunar meteorites demonstrates that the Moon originated from a giant impact.
  • The giant-impact hypothesis has been the prevailing theory on the origin of the Moon. It suggests the collision between the Earth and a Mars-sized body created a large debris disk that eventually formed the Moon.

Coming, more GSLV satellite launch vehicles

News

  • The Union Cabinet approved five more GSLV satellite launch vehicles for the period 2021-24 under the next phase 4 of the ongoing GSLV continuation programme.

Beyond News

  • One of them could be used for the second Mars mission which is being considered.
  • Sanctioned in 2003, the programme is currently in its third phase. The allocation of ₹2729.13 crore includes the cost of the launchers, augmentation of the facilities, programme management, and launch campaign, a statement said.
  • The Indian Space Research Organisation uses the GSLV, the second of its three launchers, to put 2,000-kg class of communication and other satellites to a GEO (or geosynchronous) orbit about 36,000 km away.
  • The GSLV Continuation Programme – Phase 4 will meet the launch requirement of satellites for providing critical satellite navigation services, data relay communication for supporting the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme and the next interplanetary mission to Mars. This will also ensure the continuity of production in Indian industry.
  • The first two geo imaging (or Earth observation) satellites in a hrGEO orbit are slated for the second half of this year on two GSLVs.
  • The GSLV has so far launched ten national satellites, the last one in December 2018. It has made the country self-reliant in putting its 2,000 kg-class communication and weather satellites to space. Powered by the indigenous cryogenic upper stage, it is now a reliable launcher for communication, navigation and meteorological satellites and also to undertake future interplanetary missions.

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